Looking Back

This night image was taken by a U.S. satellite on Aug. 26, 2003. That same night, Times staff writer Deborah Schoch, Times photographer Don Bartletti and Night Sky Team members Dan Duriscoe and Angie Richman were in Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah, looking up and noting satellites passing by amid the stars. The big white splotches on the map are the lights of, from left to right, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver. (Image courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)

This night image was taken by a U.S. satellite on Aug. 26, 2003. That same night, Times staff writer Deborah Schoch, Times photographer Don Bartletti and Night Sky Team members Dan Duriscoe and Angie Richman were in Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah, looking up and noting satellites passing by amid the stars. The big white splotches on the map are the lights of, from left to right, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver. (Image courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)

This night image was taken by a U.S. satellite on Aug. 26, 2003. That same night, Times staff writer Deborah Schoch, Times photographer Don Bartletti and Night Sky Team members Dan Duriscoe and Angie Richman were in Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah, looking up and noting satellites passing by amid the stars. The big white splotches on the map are the lights of, from left to right, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver. (Image courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Defense Meteorological Satellite Program)